Saturday, 12 April 2014

Little One's Daily Routine at 8.5 months

When I'm at home with Little One, I always think to myself "I wonder what other people do in their day with their baby..." and I'm sure most people also think the same thing, so I thought I would briefly write about the daily routine of an 8 and a half month old, for anyone who is interested. We have been very much guided by him as to when everything happens in the day.

About 8am- Little One normally wakes up and plays with his toys in his cot until I go in to change him. He has his milk on my bed. If I'm not ready by 8am, he comes to play and roll around on my bedroom carpet while I get myself sorted.

About 8:30am- We head downstairs, play together on his giant floor mat and I have the breakfast news on in the background to wake me up!

About 10am- I get his breakfast ready (normally Weetabix with fruit puree) and I get mine ready at the same time. Little One scoots around the kitchen in his walker. We eat breakfast together.

About 10:30am- We go back upstairs and I change him out of his sleepsuit (now covered in Weetabix) and get him into his clothes for the day.

About 10:45am- We go to baby groups, swimming class or pop to town, but if I'm in the house (most days), I'll have a tidy around the kitchen while Little One cruises in his walker.

About 11:30am- We will play with his toys or sing some songs. Recently, Little One has started wanting a short nap around this time as well so he will have a cat nap on his playmat.

About 1pm- Lunch time together. It can be quite difficult preparing lunch for both of us as he doesn't like waiting, but if he's had a nap I will have prepared it then.

About 2pm- If the weather is nice, we will go out somewhere local for a walk. If it's raining, we will play some games together.

About 3pm- Afternoon milk feed followed by a short nap. Little One has never been big on having daytime naps but I'm trying to introduce an afternoon nap time as he will have one when he starts at nursery.

About 5pm- This is when Daddy normally gets in from work so he plays with Little One while I get his supper ready.

About 5:30pm- Little One eats his supper. We don't eat with him but we will both feed him and talk to Daddy about his day.

6pm- Little One watches an episode of Peppa Pig on Sky+ and we also play games, he rolls around etc...

6:45pm- Bath time (every other day).

7:15pm- Bedtime milk feed in his nursery, read two books (the second of which is always Goodnight Moon). Brush teeth. We take it in turns to do the bedtime routine while the other one cooks our own supper.

7:30pm- Little One is in his cot and asleep by now. Zzzzzz. We have the rest of the evening to ourselves and watch TV!

If we're out for the day or we go to visit grandparents in the evening, the routine does change a bit, but we do try to keep his bedtime the same if at all possible (eg, by taking the travel cot to grandparents). Little One's bedtime routine has changed and gradually got earlier as he's got older. I will be covering this in more detail in a future blog post on sleeping habits and routines.

Let me know in the comments section below what your daily routine is like with your Little One :-)